N62 not all-weather ay Yorks hauliers
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,IMS from Yorkshire iers that the M62 is not g up to its reputation as an weather motorway" were ted by the county council. le manager of a Barnsley lage company had said the closure and terrible ditions on the M62 had the haulage business "a nomenal amount of ,ey".
le MP for Barnsley, South kshire, Roy Mason, has I asked to look into the )eated closures" of the orway during the bad ther.
at a spokesrnan for the t Yorkshire Metropolitan inty Council's highway ntenance department, who sponsible for the York e section of the M62, de[that the motorway had closed repeatedly.
e said it had been closed once for any "significant od". This was around New ✓ when the gritter drivers e in dispute, and combined the worst snow condis for 15 years, had led to closure of the motorway three days.
his was on the advice of police and was for safety ons.
he spokesman added that road had been closed only 20 miles or so between the Greater Manchester border and the M606 Bradford junction.
Generally, he felt, the M62 had a very good record of service considering its crossPennines route. On other occasions when the motorway had been closed it was for short periods only, usually just a matter of hours.
The worst section, the stretch to the west of Huddersfield where the road crosses the highest part of the Pennines, was aerodynamically designed to provide protection from snow and wind.
The AA backed up the council in defence of the M62. "It's only been closed once through bad weather. Before that it had never been closed. The country and the haulage industry is getting a good return from the money that was invested in the road."
The Sheffield area secretary of the Road Haulage Association said none of her members had complained to the RHA about the motorway.
The North West region of the Confederation of British Industry said none of its members had complained either. A spokesman said, "Everyone appreciated that it's been a very bad winter."